Devil-Moss
This is non-canon, and has nothing to do with the multiverse... yet. This is based off a narrative I wrote for Rhetoric/Composition 1. (me and M-NUva share the class. He wrote part of his Corruption story. I wrote this.) I'm not sure where this RP will go just yet... I'll let you know when/if people can join... Just let me know if you'd like to join asap so I can plan ahead please. If you'd like to join, know that I won't allow 'super powers' in this story... let's keep it semi-realistic. But some small abilities from mutations are allowed. Variants of you current characters are allowed as well. ---- Intro: The world ended with fire. The flames devoured all in its path, seeming to enjoy the taste of flesh, plant, and steel all the same. When there was nothing left to burn, the greedy hellfire starved and perished, but its invisible ghost still feasts in the wastelands today. This is what the old man tells us at least. My generation wasn't there to witness it, so we gather with each empty moon to re-learn the story. Our chief hopes that with its teachings we can prevent our own destruction… This is good and all, but after two-hundred and twenty-one times I can't say I'm too ecstatic for tonight’s tale. Now that the sun had fallen from the sky I decided it was a good time to start heading toward our shambled old town. Removing myself from a soft patch of grass, I gathered my only three possessions: a bag, a bow, and a quiver. The bag was heavy with meat and supplies. I double checked for the ninth time today to make sure that it was properly sealed. The bow and quiver were large yet light, and were each hand-crafted by one of my fathers. I slung the items over my shoulder and turned slowly, cutting my way through the blood-red forest that surrounded my destination. After a seven and-a-half minute hike, the gruesome moss that clung to the trees began to fade, and I knew I would be entering the village soon. The trees became less dense and grass was soon replaced with dirt, which was then replaced by dark brown sand. A clearing was up ahead. Ahead of me, there was a small empty plain that was guarded by a river. Past that a ways more, small cabins and fair-sized tents could be seen. A small grin reached my face... I was home. I stopped to double-check myself. I scratched at some of the moss that clung to my jacket, but soon gave up when I saw it was stained red. The cloth was not fit for town anymore, so I discarded it and my upper layer of clothing near the tree-line. I could always just pick it back up later. Still fully clothed, I dived straight into the water which flowed away from the town. Letting the river rinse off my other three layers of clothing as I crossed, I sighed in relief at the bitter cold that soothed the burden of the Earth's hot, humid weather. Exiting the river, I noticed another person who was equally as drenched as me. They seemed to have been waiting for quite some time. Boredom seemed to have claimed her, for she was busy carving her imagination into the dirt with the glowing knife that usually was sheathed at her side. The girl, who was well on her path of becoming a woman, was clad in a thick layer of leather and cloth. She finished her sketch of an archer and turned to face me with a grin. "Running a bit late again, Bow?" Dagger said with a grin that mimicked my own. "You wouldn’t want to leave me all by myself during that torture of a story, would you?" Dagger and I walked together to the perimeter of the city, chatting about our journeys since we had last seen each other half a moon ago. We stopped five yards from the town of Pathin’s entrance and waited for an official to allow us full entry. It wouldn’t take long. Villagers were already fleeing into their homes, so one should have been alerted by now. Two minutes after our arrival a portly, bald man approached us. Small beads of sweat were forming on his forehead. “Greetings, hunters!” he nervously squeaked. “Greetings, Officer.” I returned in a calm voice. “We each bring a successful, and more importantly, clean hunt.” The man blinked, and gathered himself. “Yes! Yes, of course.” he sighed in relief, “But I believe that I am the one to make the call on a ‘clean’ hunt, though. Not you.” I nodded and waited for him to continue. After seeing neither Dagger or I had any disagreements he extended his hand to receive our product. He unsealed both our bags and brought out the air tight containers that held the meat. He brought out his own instruments and began his testing. Now that he had begun his duty, he quickly recomposed himself. “Have either of you been in contact with any Devil-Moss?” the officer inquired. Well that was a stupid question. Devil-Moss had dominated the region’s forest, dying it red. Anyone who left the city would get in contact with it… and that to could lead to many issues for most people. “That’s part of the job description for being a hunter.” Dagger chuckled. “Of course we have.” The man rolled his eyes, “Yes, yes… We have to ask everyone the same questions when they enter our town… You know that. Hmmm… Have either of you two had any reaction the moss?” “Besides the usual cough? None.” I answered. Through mere chance I was born with a high resistance to the devil-moss, but it still did a number on my respiratory system." “I still have no symptoms at all.” Dagger grinned. “You hunters have quite a resistance to that stuff. I‘ve seen strong men die terrible deaths from only trace amounts…” the officer said gloomily. He stuck an instrument into her pack and a low, slow beeping could be heard. “Not bad… cleaner than most meats from the wild.” He pulled his tool from the pack: I took a moment to look at one of the few artifacts we had from before our time. It was a simple rod, almost arrow like, but instead of a tip there was a round ball that emitted warning buzzes and beeps. The officer noticed my interest in the device. “It detects something called Rads,” he explained, “It what made everything in the wasteland evolve, or die, so fast. Devil-moss filled with it.” He waved the stick around the two of us, and was rewarded with a soft, almost in-audible buzz. “You two are clean, so head off to the ceremony. I’ll get your meat to the butcher. We wouldn’t want you to miss your history lesson.” I rolled my eyes. He knew that we knew the story by heart. I gestured to my bag, “Aren’t you planning on checking mine?” I reminded him. The officer’s eyes widened. “Of all the things to slip my mind!” he exclaimed, cramming his tool into my bag. “Sorry about that! Most hunters don’t come two at a time! It’s not very often that-” An earsplitting pitch interrupted his sentence. He cursed and threw the bag to the ground. “It’s tainted.” He said simply, pulling out a match from his pocket. Striking up a flare of flame, he tossed it onto my bag. It caught fire almost immediately. I stood there speechless. “I’m… I’m sorry.” I gasped, stuck by a sense of failure. If that had made into town… a shiver crept over me. “I didn’t know.” The officer sighed, then nodded sympathetically. “It’s fine. Your catch must have eaten a bad patch of brush: there was nothing you could do about that. Just… be more careful next time.” The fire illuminated the three of us in the dark. A silence loomed around us. After a few minutes though, the officer broke the quiet. “I’ll clean this up. You two get going.” Dagger and I nodded, putting the event in the past, and headed on our way. “Oh, and… Bow,” he gestured to my weapon, “We’ll make sure to get you a new pack before you head out again. These kinds of things happen from time to time.” “Thanks.” Dagger let the silence linger for a while after we resumed our journey. We traversed sloppy, narrow streets that were paved with dirt. As we got closer, I felt her hand fall on my shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she said, “if that’s the worst thing that happens tonight, then we’ll be lucky.” I nodded. Though my face was already stained with a sad grin, I knew she was right. Especially tonight; tardiness was not appreciated by our leader. “We’re going to be late, so let’s get going... we wouldn’t want to upset the chief.” Part 1 {Inferno, let me know if you're still interested in joining and I can edit this. You never posted on the Characters post. Deathwalker, when we get to the wasteland we will add your character. That will be sooner than later, don't worry :) } If anyone else wants in, we can meet up with you in another town. just let me know in the comments. ^^ If you want a heads up with the general plan for the story then msg me on facebook, but I'll be making a good bit of this up as we go... but I now have the MAIN idea down... yay for me! I'll make a post before/during battles if we can or can not kill a specific character, and even if a battle can or can't be won... If we demolished every bump in the road then there'd be little room for epic conclusion... OH! One thing that's kinda big... I'm not much a writer, but I'd like to improve. From this point on, I'll be posting in a style more formatted for multiple users... BUT!!! I do plan on going back and re-writing this for a personal writing exercise. After we get a bit farther don't be surprised if I re-write a part or two. It's just something I'd like to do. (I will keep the re-write and the rp separate though) Thanks for reading all my spam, now let us begin. ---- Bow and Dagger rushed into the ceremonial grounds, finding a good forty to fifty others already there. "Looks like we barely made it!" Dagger exclaimed happily. She had not even broke a sweat during their mad sprint, but Bow seemed to be struggling to even stand. "Can *gasp* ''we stop ''*gasp* and catch our'' *gasp*'' breath?" he asked pathetically. His endurance was quite sad for a hunter class citizen, due to the side effects of the Devil Moss, but he tried to make up for it with the skill of his weapon. "Oh, don't be such a baby!" Dagger giggled. "Oh! It looks like Flax is over there waiting for us." She beamed over at the figure who was standing near the bonfire and waved frantically. She dragged the exhausted archer with her as she made her way toward him. As they approached Falx turned and faced them, his bright icey blue eyes looking them over. His white hair was longer than it was when they had seen him last, almost hanging over his eyes. As Dagger and Bow aproached a smile cam over his face. "Hey Falx." Bow coughed, finally seeming to catch his breath, "Looks like you've been well! I guess that nothing in that wilderness mauled you this time." the archer joked. "Yeah... that one time was a bit rough." Falx said as he rubbed his forearm, where a foot long scar rested. "But, I have much improved since then." "That's good. I don't have to worry about coming to your rescue once again." Bow said with a laugh. Dagger rolled her eyes. All three of them knew that both the archer and the sword had gotten lucky that day. "So," Flax started, "How did the hunt for you two go today?" Bow grunted, and shifted his attention to the crowd around them. "I rather not talk about it... I-" Suddenly, the elder's voice broke over the crowd. "Greetings! I pray that you have all been well! Please, gather around. We have much to discuss in very little time." Bow sighed, already feeling a headache approaching. "Oh, brother... I-" Sharp jolt of pain shot through his ribs, Falx's elbow landing a good hit on the archer. "Oh, quiet down!" Falx said in a hushed voice. The sword seemed to be one of the only parpicapants excited about tonight's ceremony, but that is to be expected from the cheif's grandchild. Bow rubbed his well-deserved bruise and moved to sit down near the old man with his two friends. The crowd of people soon followed and they were surrounded by a mob of other citizens. He glanced around for only a moment, and noted fourty-three people had attended... leaving seven others who either missed the event, or were still in the wild. Once everyone quieted down, the cheif cleared his voice and began his tale. "As many of you all know, this world was not always like this. Not to long ago..." probably add to this later... I have it already written somewhere. It's mildly intresting for the reader, as they get a small idea of how this world came to be (a nuke 'slpoded, big surprise...) BUT for the most part it's pretty boring... Dagger yawned and rested her head on Bow's shoulder. "Wake me up when it's over?" she asked tiredly. The moment he felt Dagger's head on him, Bow blushed and turned cherry-red. "Uhh, yeah.. sure." he pathetically spat out. Falx noticed this and chuckled at Bow's reaction. Dagger grinned slightly, her eyes half closed. "Hey Falx. Let me know later if that boring grandpa of yours has anything intreresting to say." Falx rolled his eyes, and shifted his attention back to the cheif. Bow tried to listen to the beggining of the story, but soon found himself daydreaming. A few, long hours passed, and Bow soon grew tired as well. Dagger snored lightly, still resting on Bow. The Elder's voice was still rambling on and it seemed that Dagger wasn't the only one falling asleep. Somehow, though, the elder was oblivious to this. "Man," Falx says to the other two, "Gramps sure talks for a long time. This is one of the longest speeches he has given in a while..." "Yeah..." Bow mutter. "What do you think the chances of him dropping dead before he finishes this speech? Old age has to claim him some time..." Falx gives a hard whack to the side of Bow, giving Dagger a little bit of a start. "Watch it!" Dagger groaned. She rubbed at her eyes for moment, trying to wake herself up. "Uhhhg.... What time is it?" Bow chuckled and rubbed his sore side, then he looked up at the night's glowing moon. "It's late." He returned his attention to where it should of been the entire night. "-so we must try harder! We must stick together! That way we can perserve. That way we can surv-" the cheif's voice was cut off by a single horn. Silence crept over the camp, and seemed to infect the rest of town as well. A second horn was blown. Then a thrid. A forth! Soon there were to many blaring in harmony. Panic fell upon the group. "That's not good..." Bow said, suddenly feeling very awake. The cheif stood tall and confronted the group. "Please remain calm! We need everyone to remain orderly, and to get to a safe place. Hunters! Please move to the perimeter of the town. The city is going on lockdown. The rest of you, get to your homes quickly and alert the rest of the town." The group quickly dispersed. The quiet still hung over town, but just outside the city walls the battlecries of furious men grew louder and louder by the second. Pathin was under attack. Part II: Falx: People ran in every direction, and soon the streets seemed empty. In the distance the roars of some strange beasts could be heard on the battlefeild past the north gate. "What in the world?" Falx pondered at the noise, "What kind of creature makes that noise?" The old man looked like he was going to try and answer, but he was cut off by a ear deafening roar followed by the screams of child. It sounded like it was close by. Falx ran toward the sound, hoping he could get there in time to help the poor person. Grams tried his best to keep up with his grandson, but could not keep up with his pace. Falx rounded the corner that lead to the street the noise came from and was shocked by what he saw. Some large creature hunched over the body of a bruised, unconcious boy with messy brown hair. It turned to face the sworder and gave a threatening his, flesh and mucsel oozing off the creature as it did so. It grabbed the child with a skeletal hand, who Falx now reconized as a future hunter, and leapt onto the side of a building a clambered over it. It then dashed off and escaped over one of the city walls. gonna have to try and sketch out one of these... It's nightmare fuel xD. Kinda imagine the tank from left 4 dead, but with more animailtic features and behaviors. And most of its features are rotting off. Falx yells to Gramps. "Lets get you to a safe place Old Man!" With that he pulls gramps by the arm and pulls him toward Gramps's safe house. "Whoa!" Gamps yells both in fright and suprised at his grandsons strength. As the two ran Falx noticed villagers more villagers beeing dragged off, after seeing several dragged off to their apparent demise Falx couldn't take it anymore and decided to engage the next one he saw in combat. A woman's shriek of surprise blared as Falx passed on of the alley ways, followed by the clang of metal and the roar of one of the creatures. "Gramsp follow me, so I can keep an eye on you." Falx runs into the alley and takes a good look at the monster. "What is that!?" "Please, help me!" the woman pleaded, and Falx reconized her as another hunter. Her oversized axe was buried into the creatures shoulder, yet the beast didn't even seem to notice. She was cornered by the creature and it was slowly creeping toward her. "These things! They're all over town!" Falx runs at the creature jumps onto it, then grabs the axe and leaps off. Falx hands the axe to the hunter. "Lets get this." Falx charges the beast again. "Right!" She grabbed onto the axe and follows Falx, letting out a battlecry. Seeing that the beast was about to attack she pulled back her axe and prepared to hurl it forward. The creature roars at the two, its arm now bleeding more heavily. It swings its other fist in an arc, aiming for the two hunters in one sweep. The woman was hit with the full force of the blow, but not before throwing her blade. The axe flew through the air and planted itself into the creatures chest. It penatrated only an inch or two into the creatures body, but it was stil dangerously near the beast's heart. The hit sent her flying back past the elder and she lost conciousness before she even hit the paved concrete. Gramps rushed to her aide as quickly as he could manage. Falx jumped over the arm and using his sword to protect his feet, jumped on the axe pushing it further into the chest of the beast, penetrating its heart. The creature roared in agony as it fell backward. It crashed onto its back and laid still. A black-ish red ooze leaked for its chest and from its slighly agape mouth. It was dead. A few moments passed and soon the creature paled from blood loss. At the entrance of the alley way, a loud whimper could be heard. Another creature stood behind Gramps and the girl, its eyes locked on its dead pack-member. The whimper turned into a roar of rage as it turned to face Falx. Instead of attacking though, it instead reached out with clawed hands and took hold of the elder and the unconcious hunter. A cruel and somewhat twisted smile appeared on its face, a quite gruesome sight as most of the muscels required for a smile lay torn and dangling past its maw. It leapt up, inhumanly high, and landed on the roof of the nearby building, and dashed toward the main gate. Falx was left in the alley way with nothing but his blade, the corpse of a beast, and the screams of terror that echoed through the city. In the direction that the creature had escaped too, the shocked cries of another hunter peirced the air. But by the time Falx would of got there, it would of already been to late. Flax looked down at the ground and clenched his fist, then he darted in the direction that the beast when, hoping to catch up to it on the ground. He ran and ran, nothing mattered to him right now except for the safety of his grandpa, the last of his family to survive. Dagger and Bow: "Ever hear that it's not safe to run with siscors?" Bow asked as they ran, "I wonder how much worse it is to run with two oversized knives in your grasp." Dagger didn't seem to care though as she sprinted to the city walls. "Pick up your pace Bow! This is no time to be messing around." Adrenaline was being pumped through Bow's system, and for the first time in his life he was almost keeping up with Dagger. "I'm right behind you." he panted, drawing his bow and docking multiple arrows. After a few minutes they had reached the western wall of the town. The sounds of battle echoed through the city, and it seemed like the local militia had already been dispatched. Strangely though, besides the clashing of metal in the distance, this portion of the city was silent. Bow and Dagger exchanged worried glances and ran toward the nearby gate. "Empty..." Dagger said, a bit confused by the lack of people in the feilds west of the city. Bow scratched his head at this. The warning horns had gone off and with the screams of men just north of here, he knew Pathin was in danger... but why were they only attacking on side of the city? Was this a ruse? A trick? Possibly. But he had a gut feeling that wasn't it. Why the lack of stratedgy? Why even attack Pathin? "Dagger... follow me." Bow demanded, running past the gates and following the large wall north. She grabbing his arm to stop him. "Stop! How can you be sure that no one is out there?" "I'm not... but they're trying to get through the north gate. If we go this way, we can flank them. Maybe do enough damage to scare them off." He explained, pulling his arm back. "Dagger... we post most of our guards on the north side of the city. We always have. Anyone could of used the other two entrances and had less opposition. The attackers are not intellegent." "You mean we're being attacked by a bunch of animals?" "No... well, I doubt it. Lets just go and find out." The two dashed along the outer walls. They slowed at the corner so Bow could catch his breath. "You -gasp- ready?" Bow asked. "Yeah." "Alright. You go first... be careful... I'll be three and a half seconds behind you, and cover you." Dagger nodded, and prepared herself. After a moment, she paused though. "Hey... Bow?" "Yeah?" "Just in case we... well, something happens... I-" She blushed deeply, and Bow turned a shade reder too. "I... I know." he said sheepishly. She smiled slightly and turned a shade redder. She leaned forward and kissed him. Time slowed to a stop, and even though Pathin was in trouble, everything felt perfect at that moment for Bow. She broke the kiss and turned from him. "Lets go." She broke into a full sprint and rounded the corner. Bow stood there for a moment, his mind completely blank. He blinked a few times and regained his thoughs. He ran around the corner, missing his mark by five-forths of a second. And he ran right into Dagger. "What the... Dagger, what happened?" He asked, a bit confused. She pointed ahead. Nothing had to be said. A hundred yards in front of them a dozen large beast ran berserk through what was left of the militia. They walked on two legs, like man, but were a good head or two taller even with their slotched backs. They're faces seemed to lack skin, missing their lips entirly, along with their nose, ears, cheeks, and seemingly their eyelids. Some weilded large sticks, which were actually large tree stumps. Some weilded nothing but their fist and claw, mangled and mutilated corpses flew about with each swing of their mighty arms. "Dagger. You've got to warn the town. Tell them to evacuate." She nodded. "What about you?" She trembled a little when he gave her a sad look and pulled back an arrow. "Go. Now!" She looked as if she was going to cry. Something she had never done in her life before. But at his exclamation she gave a sad nod and ran back toward the west entrance. Bow fired his arrow and stroke one of the beasts right in the eye. It roared and howled in pain, tugging at the shaft embeded deeply in its head and trying to scratch the blood out of its vision. All the other beasts turned to face him, and growled angerly. Bow stood his ground and docked multiple arrows. He fired them all at once. Two arrows struck the first creature in the chest, knocking it to the ground. The others hit various marks on the others bodies. Enraged two of the monsters charged toward him, but being as large as they were they began to bump into eachother. The archer dropped his bow, and clenched two arrows in his hands. He waited until the pair of clumsy beasts launched their attack on him, then sidestepped to just barely aviod the first wave of attacks. He held the arrows to his side and allowed two of the creatures to run into the arrow tips. The two of them howled in pain, tugging at the shafts embeded in their skin. But his small victory was short lived. Bow's eyes widened as one of the creatures recovered much to quickly and swung an angry fist at the archer. He had very little time to react, having just enough times to force his arms in front of his face in a sad attempt to protect his head. The blow stuck him hard in the chest and sent him flying into the city wall. The rock cracked behind him, and his blood trailed over him as he slid down the concrete wall. His eyes became heavy and he found it increasingly hard to keep concious. The two beasts closed in on him, but were soon stopped by another howl behind the wall, followed by a yell. His heart stopped. It was Dagger. Another monster volleyed itself from the inside of the city to just past where Bow lay. It was becoming hard to see, but he could tell it was holding two humans in its clawed hands and that a slender figure was hoisted over one of its shoulders. The figure looked sadly in his direction, small drips of blood fall off of her. "Bow?" Dagger asked in a voice that was drenched in sadness and defeat. "I....." Either she lost conciousness, or the sheer volume of the packs roar deafened him to any noise she may of made. The creature carring the three humans ran off into the forest, and following him with a battlecry the rest of the pack followed. "No....." the archer gasped, just as he lost conciousness. Part III: Everything was dark. Everything felt pained. Everthing was.... wet? Bow jolted awake, just after Falx had poured a bucket of cold water onto the archer. "What the-" he cursed, stopping himself as a new wave of pain shot through his body. His mind was still pretty foggy from the blow he had taken last night, but his mind wasn't the only casualty. Many bruises and bumps laid upon the boy's body, he wouldn't doubt that he had broken or at least fractured several bones. He grumbled in agony and moved himself from his previous sitting position to lay himself onto the red-stained ground. "What happened?" he croaked. Falx looked him over. Falx's demeanor seemed to have changed. He no longer seemed so carefree. "We were attcked, you almost died, the end." A foggy vision of the previous days events slowly started to gear through his mind. "Where's.... where's Dagger?" he groaned. "I don't know, haven't seen her." Flax replied. Bow looked like he wanted to say something, but his face suddenly turned a shade whiter and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His eyes widened. "I think I need a medic...." What the archer didn't know was that any docter that had been in town the previous day where either tending to the dying, or were already dead themselves. "Yeah, you do." With that Falx lifted the archer up into his arms and carried him to the nearest medical hut where, to Bow's suprise, he tended to Bow's wounds. Bow muffled a cry as Falx worked on his wounds. "Shit! That smarts..." he complained. Falx ignored his cries and continued on with his work. "Sit still, or I'll just leave you here." --- The next day the sword and the archer packed up their few possessions, preparing to leave the town for good. Falx had been deathly silent since the day before, merely nodding in agreeance when Bow asked him to join him to track down the beasts that had destoryed Pathin. "I bet those monsters won't handle themselves so well when they are no longer the hunters..." Bow growled to himself as they exited town and entered the forest. "We'll only need a few days to track these bastards down... then we can exact some revenge." Little did he know how wrong he was... '-Story Arc End-' Category:Story